Pa. district attorneys urge lawmakers to fund early education

Photo courtesy Fight Crime: Invest in Kids
Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman speaks at the event flanked by, from left, Bruce Clash, state director of Fight Crime: Invest In Kids, David Freed, Cumberland County District Attorney and current president of the Pennsylvania District Attorney’s Association, and Thomas Hogan, Chester County district attorney.

Fight Crime documents

CHESTER — District attorneys from Southeastern Pennsylvania on Wednesday urged state and federal lawmakers to increase funding for early education programs for at-risk children in an effort to boost high school graduation rates and reduce the prison population.

“We can continue with the status quo, which is leading too many people to failure in school, involvement in crime and incarceration at huge cost to Pennsylvania taxpayers,” said Delaware County District Attorney Jack Whelan, standing in front of the State Correctional Institution in Chester. “Or we can take a different course, leading more kids to success in school, increased high school graduation and savings to taxpayers for years to come.”

Whelan said that in Pennsylvania, $1.9 billion is spent each year to house approximately 500,000 prison inmates. In Delaware County alone, he said, it costs taxpayers about $45 million to fund Delaware County prison.

Whelan, Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman, Philadelphia District Attorney R. Seth Williams, Chester County District Attorney Thomas Hogan and Cumberland County District Attorney David J. Freed, president of the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association, spoke at the event sponsored by Fight Crime: Invest in Kids organization.

Advertisement

The lawmakers are all members of the nonprofit, bipartisan anti-crime organization, which on Wednesday released a report “I’m The Guy You Pay Later,” which shows that children who have access to high-quality early education are 20 percent less likely to end up in prison.

“We know from research and our experience, that inmates in this facility don’t land there overnight,” said Ferman. “We see kids entering kindergarten without the (skills) they need to survive and get along. Put those dollars into our kids now so we don’t end up filling these institutions later.”

Williams called on lawmakers to support President Barack Obama’s proposal to spend $75 billion over the next 10 years on early childhood education, as opposed to spending $75 billion every year to house prisoners.

“This report demonstrates that every $100 invested in early childhood education will save us $700 in prison costs here in Pennsylvania,” Williams said. “This building behind me is a temple, a testimony of what the failure to invest in education will get you.”

The Fight Crime: Invest in Kids organization cited the Mason Dixon poll of 1,890 law enforcement leaders conducted this summer that showed overwhelming support for the federal proposal, which would serve all 3- and 4-year-olds who are living at the 300 percent poverty level.

The law enforcement officers also praised Governor Tom Corbett and the governors of 24 other states who proposed or signed into law the expansion of preschool funding.

The current Pennsylvania State budget includes an increase of $6.4 million for early childhood education.

“Every child deserves a chance,” said Hogan. “We all would rather see kids in graduation caps and gowns instead of handcuffs and prison uniforms. It is time to make the better choices now, for the sake of our kids today and for the sake of our communities tomorrow.”